‘Dress Up Because You Are Going to Win;’ Sedburys Ghost Gives Wu First Stakes Victory in Plate Trial

[Wandering Eyes]

When Sedburys Ghost (Shaman Ghost) burst from the pack to capture the Plate Trial Stakes at Woodbine a week ago, the gelding gave his owner/breeder Yawen Wu her first stakes victory and has the Canadian engineer dreaming of her first trip to the King's Plate.

After finishing fourth in the 1 1/16-mile GIII Marine Stakes in June, Sedburys Ghost was given just a 7-1 chance to win the Plate Trial at an extra half-furlong July 20. Wu admitted she wasn't sure herself how the strapping chestnut would do in the trial, but trainer Barbara Minshall had enough confidence for all of them.

“I had mixed feelings,” Wu said. “But Barb said, 'Yawen, dress up because you're going to win.' In the Marine Stakes, we thought if he didn't get first, he would get second or third, but he ended up fourth, so we were a little disappointed. But Barb was so confident. She said, 'Sedbury is training well and I have no doubts unless something happened. If everything goes well, he has speed and he has talent and the jockey [Ryan Munger] had been working with him since we started training him.”

Sedburys Ghost traces back to Wu and husband James Mann's first foray into Thoroughbred breeding. The gelding's second dam Bayou Mist (Silver Ghost) was part of a small group of mares the couple acquired in 2007 to stock their newly acquired farm land in Port Perry, Ontario.

“My husband and I, we are both engineers by trade, we have our own company,” Wu said. “So it's not like we've been involved in racing our whole lives. But we both love horses, so we bought the farm land. We bought acres and built the farm from scratch.”

While Thoroughbred racing wasn't originally in the couple's plans for their new farm, the land just happened to be near the historic Windfields Farm, which was in the process of winding down just as they were building up their farm.

“Originally, we thought we would just have horses in general and then we met [Windfields manager] Bernard McCormack and he told us that we had a great setting for broodmares and foaling,” Wu explained. “We are on an island. It's a great piece of land. Very beautiful and quiet. That was almost 20 years ago, but at that time, it was a new barn, custom made, and a big riding arena. Bernard said it would be great, good for the broodmares and the foals and the yearlings.”

Wu and Mann purchased three mares at the 2007 Keeneland January Sale, where they acquired Bayou Mist for $35,000. The mare's 2006 foal was multiple stakes winner Selva (Forest Wildcat), who went on to produce multiple stakes winner Vanzzy (Verrazano).

The couple's initial breeding operation was short-lived when the demands of family and business, where they operate Mann Engineering with a focus on renewable energy, overtook the racing game.

“I had four kids and they were all busy in the school,” Wu recalled. “And our business was also busy. So we took a five-year break. We sold all the horses in the first group that we had bought in Kentucky. All the yearlings we sold with Bernard. He took all our crop back to Kentucky and we sold all the stock. But it was the best decision, I kept Hurricane Mimi. She was the only one I kept.”

Put into training with Ross Armata, Jr., the hard-knocking Hurricane Mimi hit the board in 11 of 28 starts with three wins and earnings of $171,078 before retiring in 2017 and taking up residence at the Mann family's Spirit Run Farm.

Sedburys Ghost is the mare's fourth foal and her fourth winner and, like all of his siblings up to that point, was entered in the yearling sales where he RNA'd for $20,662 in August of 2023.

“I put a reserve at $29,500 and I didn't get him sold,” Wu said. “Bernard asked if I wanted to lower that, and I said, 'No. I am going to keep him and race him.' I didn't want to give him away. I wanted to race him. I was with Barb already, so I asked her if she would train him.”

Sedburys Ghost | Michael Burns Photo

Sedburys Ghost has rewarded that decision, breaking his maiden in his second start last June and returning nearly a year later to add an optional claimer before his traffic-compromised effort in the Marine Stakes. But it was his 1 1/4-length victory in the Plate Trial that has Wu most excited.

“This was my first stakes winner, so I am very excited,” she said. “I was sitting beside Barb and my two daughters. In the beginning, he was in mid-pack, so after the turn, I saw he had a clear lane and he just went and as soon as we saw that, I knew he was going to close. I have never been so excited in my life, actually. I was shaking.”

The family's broodmare band has grown back up to five head, but Wu has decided to forego the sales ring and aim instead for the racetrack.

“I just need a little bit more courage to breed to sell because the Canadian sires have a lower commercial value,” Wu said. “But they are good horses. I have two yearlings right now and I was going to August to sell, but I withdrew them and decided I am going to race them. They have great pedigrees and they are nice looking and good conformation. I just feel like they will have more value to race then to give away.”

One of those racehorses in the pipeline is Hurricane Amelia, a 2-year-old full-sister to Sedburys Ghost, who has been working steadily at Woodbine for Minshall.

“I heard great things about her from Barb,” Wu said of the juvenile. “She says she is very competitive and she reminds her of Sedbury as a yearling. And they look identical. Chestnut with three white socks.”

Hurricane Mimi produced a filly by Souper Speedy this year and was bred back to Tamarkuz.

Wu has plenty of racing to look forward to, but it's the Aug. 16 King's Plate that is the stable's immediate focus.

“I've never been to the King's Plate,” Wu said with a laugh. “I've never been invited. Usually you have a friend or a friend of a friend who has a horse in the King's Plate and they invite you.”

While her daughters are busy googling 'What to wear at the King's Plate,' Wu admitted, “I am nervous. Excited. But also kind of nervous.”

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